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Ford Everest 2015: Turbo error

We purchased a 2015-plated Ford Everest in mid-2016. It's a beautiful car around town, however, when we set off on a 12 months trip around Australia at Christmas 2016, we started to have issues. We were towing 2.85-tonne with a GCM (as per weighbridge) of just over 5.7-tonne, so we were within the advertised specs (3-tonne towing, 6-tonne GCM). When we left Adelaide and the temperature reached 40 degrees, the Ford packed up with a turbo error message, which was claimed to be a glitch. From then on, we received ‘spanner' errors and the car would go in limp mode whenever under load. Time would vary from one to seven hours, driven by outside temperature and totally random. Ironically, the car would not log the errors in the on-board computer, so between Adelaide and Perth we were stuck three times and always got the same answer from dealers and Ford: "No log entry, nothing we can do. Drive to a dealer with the error active". Easy said, but hard to do when you're in the middle of the Nullarbor and your next dealership is 20 hours drive away in limp mode. This was escalated with Ford Australia, but we were told to simply “try a fourth time”, on the way to Broome. With three kids in the back, we took a rain check. Ford advised it would take them five to 10 working days to come back "with a solution, or an offer". It took a Toyota dealer 10 minutes to make an offer and we switched to a LandCruiser in Perth. Based on my experience and those of other caravaners we've met along the way, the Everest is not suited for towing at or near the advertised capacity of 3-tonne over extended periods of time in the harsh Australian climate. Full stop. Half of Everest owners we met on this trip either had issues with the turbo, or else the transmission. Ford has its head in the sand and will try to blame the issues on your wiring harness or bull bar, as they tend to be third party items. What can a consumer do in this situation? We lost a lot of money on a car in 12 months of ownership because it's not capable of doing what it's advertised for?

You were right on the limit of the Everest, close to both the towing limit and the GCM limit, so you needed to be mindful of that when towing and you shouldn't be towing in the overdrive ratios. It sounds as thought the transmission was overheating, which suggests the Everest is borderline for cooling when operating at its supposed limits. Anyone planning to tow in a similar loading situation should consult a towing specialist before they go to make sure they're fully prepared for the trip. Maybe the Everest needs extra transmission cooling. To be fair to the Ford dealers they can't diagnose a problem that isn't presenting itself at the time the car is in their workshop. As a consumer your best option if the carmaker isn't being helpful is to go to the consumer affairs department of your state government.

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